Ears

Did you know that your ears keep on growing as you get older?

I did not until recently.

Someone made this comment to me the other day and I sat around in shock. Why did they tell me? Are my ears now becoming elephantine? Have I started to get so old that my ears are more apparent than some of my other features? Are my ears UGLY?

I checked it out and have to say that I am surprised by the results of my findings.

1. In the first place it's true - ears DO keep growing.
2. In the second place, my ears are no longer the delectable little morsels that I am certain brought endearments from my mother.
3. I have ear hairs that are quite unsightly.
4. No one wants to nibble my ear lobes any more.
5. My face is shrinking.
6. As my hearing deteriorates my body compensates by creating a better receiver?

There may well be other parts of the body that also keep growing but as has been found by many people they are not necessarily those parts of the body that anyone really wants to keep on growing. Anyone with warts will certainly agree and of course those of us who have experienced cancer will definitely state and quite categorically that they do NOT want these cells to keep growing.

I wonder if there is something that can be learned from those parts of the body that keep growing versus those parts of the body that do not. Perhaps one of the secrets of controlling cancer lies in finding the differences between those cells that know how to turn off and those that keep growing. If we find out how to turn cell growth off then we might just find how to turn uncontrolled cell growth off and then - so much for cancer.

Now back to those ears!